Ed. note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.

Renewables (General):
*** The Final Nail in The Coffin Of “Renewable” Energy
*** Murphy’s Law of Alternative Energy
*** BP to cut back on green shift amid booming demand for fossil fuels
*** We Demand a Demonstration Project of a Mainly Renewables-Based Electrical Grid
Replacing Cheap, Reliable Power With Unreliable Energy Is Actually Hard
The Human Price of Cobalt

Wind Energy – Offshore:
*** Why Environmentalists May Make This Whale Species Extinct
*** Study: The Interaction Between Resource Species and Electromagnetic Fields Associated with Electricity Production by Offshore Wind Turbines
Feds push ignorance defense for whale killing by offshore wind development
Are NOAA Scientists Being Silenced?…

” … the limited assurance of these public accountant’s sustainability letters provides, in certain respects, even less assurance than detailed agreed-upon procedure letters…. [T]he limited assurance letters in these sustainability reports contain very little detailed information and only reach vague, double-negative conclusions regarding the findings.”

– Michael Kraten, “Sustainability Reports and the Limitations of ‘Limited’ Assurance.” The CPA Journal (July 2019).

A recent feature for The CPA Journal (July 2019) unmasks the most politicized area of modern accounting, sustainability accounting. [1]

Following are excerpts from an essay by Michael Kraten (PhD, CPA, CSVP; professor of accounting and chair of the accounting, finance, and economics department at Houston Baptist University), “Sustainability Reports and the Limitations of ‘Limited’ Assurance.”

• “How many standards can a sustainability accountant possibly follow?

“Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont now pursue decarbonization targets to reduce emissions 75-85 percent by 2050. These states’ “strategic electrification” policy calls for eliminating natural gas and propane from home and water heating applications by substituting electric appliances and heat pumps that can use wind and solar systems.”

“Because of insufficient gas pipeline capacity, New England now faces critical shortages. In January, utility Con Edison announced a moratorium on new natural gas customers in Westchester County, New York. That same month, Holyoke Gas & Electric of Massachusetts also announced that it can no longer accept new natural gas service requests due to a lack of supply.”

Global usage of natural gas continues to grow rapidly. Methane and propane are essential low-cost, non-polluting fuels for heating, cooking, industrial use, and generation of electrical power.…

“Hydrocarbon fuels will remain essential for modern air travel. So-called sustainable aviation fuels are expensive, produced in negligible volumes, and provide CO2 savings only on paper. As such, they fail the real sustainability test of affordability, plenty, and reliability.”

Air travel is a miracle of our modern society. In 1620, the pilgrims took 65 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean by sailing ship and two passengers died during that hazardous journey. Today, a single jumbo jet safely transports more than 300 passengers from London to New York in under eight hours. Millions flew to see loved ones this last Christmas. But jet planes burn hydrocarbon fuel, an energy source under attack.

Each day, more than 100,000 commercial flights carry more than 11 million passengers a combined total of 14 billion passenger miles worldwide. …